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What sensor is used in the Ricoh line?

bbodine9

Member
Does anyone know whose sensors Ricoh uses in the GX and GRD series of cameras? There is an awful lot of new development out there from different manufacturers.

Thanks!
 
According to my knowledge, the sensors used in Ricoh cameras are made by Sony. The problem is, that Ricoh is relative small photo company with much smaller quantities of manufactured cameras than for example Canon or Nikon (even these companies use Sony sensors). So Rioch cannot dictate the conditions, quantities or even expected parameters of the sensors as possibly do other companies. Anyway, I don't think there are is "an awful lot" of manufacturers selling to 3rd parties? I think Sony is the biggest company selling the "small" sensors? Neither Panasonic nor Fuji sells their superb small sensors to 3rd parties?
 
I would not be so sure Sergey! ;) Yes, Canon is making their APS-C and full frame CMOS sensors. But I'm almost sure that they use 3rd party sensors in their pocket cameras. At least they did in the past. Do you remember the large Sony CCD recall? It affected wide range of brands and cameras, including Canon (and Ricoh)! And there are rumors and hints around the web that G10 uses the same 14MP sensor as Sony W300. So, I believe Canon is making their own sensors (CMOS based) only for their DSLR products.
 
odklizec":1e1ghr7k said:
According to my knowledge, the sensors used in Ricoh cameras are made by Sony.

Are the Panasonic or Fuji sensors that much better? The Sony ones would be much the same level of "quality" just different? Its a bit like McDonalds vs Burger King to me. Neither is overly better its just what you prefer? - or in this case what Ricoh can get, or am I way wrong here?. I know Fuji have released their new Super EXR line, but no RAW from the camera that uses it.

Its what Ricoh puts around the sensor that seems to be a winner to me?
 
LX3 sensor is definitely a very good performer in terms of noise and dynamic range. As far as I know, there is not comparable (any) 1/1.7 10MP CCD in current Sony small sensor production. And anything above 10MP is way too noisy and producing badly clipped highlights (see G10 results above ISO200). This is where and why GX200 loses his battle with LX3.

And from what I saw at dc.watch.impress, the new Fuji EXR sensor produces some very nice results, despite its 12MP resolution. Sure, it would be very interesting to see some RAW files. But the JPEG files from this camera does not look that bad even at ISO800.

I wish Ricoh could buy and integrate LX3 or new EXR sensor in next GX/GRD (if not 4/3 or anything else reasonable big) ;)
 
Thanks Tim. I did not saw these. On the one hand, there are shown ISO200 and ISO400 shots (kudos for Fuji doing that). On the other hand, both these "high ISO" shots were taken in reduced resolution mode (shame on Fuji! ;)). So the noise is reduced too. It would be nice to see the RAW files. I'm sure that the "white" parts in "D-RANGE PRIORITY" photo could be even more restored if correctly processed in RAW.
 
All WiFi routers around me are down, so I am loading Fuji info (at a snail's pace) about their Super CCD EXR Sensor ...

One thing about the (previous) Fuji Super CCDs (anyway) was that they had only about one-half of the vertically-oriented line-resolution as the horizontally-oriented line resolution (at least as tested via the in-camera JPG output). I wonder if this unusual characteristic has to do with their hexagonally-arranged sensor scheme (and/or the placement of the smaller sensors interspersed with the larger sensors)?

At the Specifications web-page for the Fuji FinePix S200 EXR:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/dig ... index.html

the (what they refer to as) "EXR Priority" functions look interesting:

"Photography Functions -
EXR mode (EXR AUTO, RESOLUTION PRIORITY, HIGH ISO & LOW NOISE PRIORITY, D-RANGE PRIORITY)
"

:p
 
odklizec":1x1j1izx said:
... On the one hand, there are shown ISO200 and ISO400 shots (kudos for Fuji doing that). On the other hand, both these "high ISO" shots were taken in reduced resolution mode (shame on Fuji! ;)).

I downloaded and took a close look at the images.

[1] Only the ISO=100 shot (presented in 12 Mpixel mode) has pretty good detail in the subject's eye-lashes and eye-brows (showing that such is possible with the image-sensor):
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/dig ... xr_001.jpg

[2] The ISO=200 shot (as you noted) is presented in 6 Mpixel mode, and there is some (but less) definition of the subject's eye-lashes and eye-brows (showing that such is possible with their 6 Mpixel presentation):
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/dig ... xr_002.jpg

[3] The ISO=400 shot (as you noted) is presented in 6 Mpixel mode, and there is virtually no definition of the subject's eye-lashes and eye-brows:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/dig ... xr_003.jpg

Seems like there are some artifacts that Fuji would rather that we not see in 12 Mpixel mode on shots number 2 and 3 above (at ISO=200, and at ISO=400, respectively). The optics on the Fuji FinePix F200 EXR appear to be of a fairly large in size (as compacts go), and are presumably pretty good quality.

I wonder if the image-sensor in the DMC-LX3 could do better at ISO=400? (Perhaps) the Fuji Super CCDs excel in the signal/noise ratio department (due to the dual-sized sensors together at each location on the surface of the active-area), but have disadvantages in the department of resolution (such as the limited vertically-oriented line resolution compared with the horizontally-oriented line resolution noted on earlier incarnations, etc.)?
 
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